With the 2019-20 Manitoba Major Junior Hockey League season having been cut short due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 offseason also began much earlier than in recent years. However, it did take nearly 50 days from the final game played for any team to strike up a deal.
This week, the Fort Garry Twins and Stonewall Jets came together on a two-player trade that saw 2000-born forward Dryden Bound shipped to Stonewall, in exchange for 2001-born forward Matthew Lehman. Both forwards played for their respective teams last year, chiming in minimally on the offensive side of things, filling depth roles for the Twins and Blues.
Lehman, of Carman, is a 6-foot-4, 210-pound winger who spent two seasons with RHA in the Canadian Sport School Hockey League, before splitting last season with the St. Boniface Riels and the Jets. He collected one goal, three points and 19 penalty minutes in 18 total games.
Bound, a product of LaSalle, played three seasons of high school hockey for Sanford, where he put up 17 goals and 47 points in 24 games during his season year, before moving south to play for Dakota College at Bottineau. He had seven goals and 12 points in 27 ACHA Division II games, before joining the MJHL for the 2019-20 season. With the Twins, Bound scored twice, while adding 10 minutes in penalties.
Both the Twins and Jets qualified for the 2020 postseason, with Stonewall finishing in fifth-place with 52 points, while the Twins ended the season with 47 points, good for seventh-place. The two teams have essentially swapped final placements in each of the past three seasons, dating back to 2017-18.
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